Gateway Pilots

Erik Kientzy gave a very informative and surprisingly entertaining presentation on FAA enforcement actions. Erik is an attorney in private practice in St. Louis, specializing in aviation law. He can be reached at (314)968-4031. A few highlights from his talk were:

If you are ever approached by an FAA official and asked for your certificate, what do you do? Refuse? Hand him the certificate? Or let him see it but refuse to let go because letting go can be interpreted as surrendering your certificate to the FAA? This one is easy; you should hand over the certificate. It will not be interpreted as surrendering your ticket; that’s an urban myth. See FAR 61.27. You are under two legal requirements regarding paperwork: 1) to show your certificate and medical upon request, and 2) to produce your logbooks within a reasonable period of time.

In an FAA investigation, the “rights” which you may think you have from watching cop shows on TV do not apply. Since it is an administrative investigation and not police work, no one needs to advise you of your rights, etc. The inspector is not even required to tell you that you are under investigation! The FAA inspectors are trained to put you at ease so that you will talk to them (even though doing so may not be in your best interest). The inspectors will also be looking for mitigating or aggravating circumstances, including your attitude.

If you receive a violation, it will remain on your record for five years. Warnings stay on your record for two years. You should follow up with the FAA after that period to confirm that the violation or warning has been removed.

As a general rule of thumb, when talking to an FAA investigator, be cautious if the conversation turns to events in the past.

NASA ASRS forms are Very Good Things. They are not real Get Out of Jail Free cards but they can be invaluable if you meet the immunity requirements. Do file them either electronically or on paper. Even more important: hang onto the ID strip but don’t write something self-incriminating on the slip like, “ran out of gas.”

Jim Kramper spoke on the sources of global warming and discussed the various natural sources and human sources.  Global warming is seen best if the entire earth temperature is monitored. The smaller the area examined the greater the variation in year-to-year temperature.  For example in the St Louis area, only three of the hottest years have occurred since 1990, and one of the 10 hottest years was in 1900, while globally most of the 10 hottest years have occurred since 1990. He emphasized that the interactions between these various sources of global warming are very complex.  However, human activity is a major source of the increase in atmospheric CO2, both form the use of fossil fuels and from the destruction of rain forest and other heavily forested areas which are a sink for CO2 and the production of O2.  Human activity to reduce carbon emissions, recycle, and generally clean up our planet and the atmosphere will have positive effects on the health of the planet and may slow the process of global warming.  There was a long question and answer period after the talk in which the myths about the sources of St. Louis weather, weather balloons, how forecasts are generated, etc.  It was a really informative and lively talk and discussion.

The recent crash of US Air Airbus 320, brought down by a flock of geese, should remind us how important good training is. These pilots fly every day, and every 6 month they go through a training program of emergencies that they don’t get to see in normal flight. So wouldn’t it be a good idea for us to have a training program that fits our individual flying activities? THINK ABOUT IT. Rick  adv.av.training@sbcglobal.net